| |

Is Asbestos Fiber Type or Concentration More Important in Mesothelioma?

ByHolly Zink

Is Asbestos Fiber Type or Concentration More Important in Mesothelioma?Malignant pleural mesothelioma is strongly associated with occupational asbestos exposure.

The total asbestos fiber concentration may be associated with an increased risk of mortality. Asbestos fiber type was not as important.

A new study looked at different types and concentrations of asbestos fibers in the lung tissues of mesothelioma patients. The team investigated their effects on patient mortality.

Asbestos Fiber Analyses

A Finnish team of scientists identified 590 patients to study. All patients had malignant pleural mesothelioma and underwent pulmonary asbestos fiber analysis.

A pulmonary asbestos fiber type analysis is a special clinical test. It extracts fibers and asbestos bodies from a patient’s lung tissue.

Usually, this uses a digestion-and-concentration technique. The examination may even include electron diffraction and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy.

This test provides insights into the development of asbestos-induced diseases like mesothelioma.

Saturation Is More Important than Asbestos Fiber Type

A new study showed that total asbestos fiber concentration is associated with patient mortality. Patients with a high asbestos concentration in their lungs did not live as long.

What was interesting is their results on asbestos fiber type. No difference in mortality was noted between different fiber types.

There are two types of asbestos fiber considered in this study. Crocidolite was more often associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma than anthophyllite. It is believed that the method of consumption, asbestos spraying, is important here.

Yet, anthophyllite was the sole fiber found in the development of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

The team’s findings suggest that asbestos fiber concentration is most important. Asbestos fiber type is not as important for patient mortality. The total fiber burden may impact the development of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Source

Laaksonen, Sanna, Eeva Kettunen, Eva Sutinen, Ilkka Ilonen, Tapio Vehmas, Timo Törmäkangas, Jari Räsänen, Henrik Wolff, and Marjukka Myllärniemi. “Pulmonary Asbestos Fiber Burden is Related to Patient Survival in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.” Journal of Thoracic Oncology (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtho.2022.03.012

Similar Posts

  • |

    Teacher’s Diagnosis Highlights Mesothelioma Risk in Schools

    ByAlex Strauss

    A recent mesothelioma diagnosis in the UK once again dramatically highlights the fact that even a small amount of asbestos can be deadly. Sixty-three-year-old school teacher Marion Potts of Brockenhurst died of mesothelioma in a Southampton hospital in June. According to an article in The Mirror, the Coroner recorded a verdict of “death from an industrial disease” after hearing evidence last week that Potts actually saw asbestos dust being released when she pinned work on the classroom walls. Most recently, Potts was head of the English department at Romsey School in Hampshire until her retirement two years ago. Mesothelioma is a growing threat among school teachers, administrators, maintenance workers, and even students in British schools. A government report released last…

  • | |

    Micro-RNAs May Offer New Way to Fight Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists at one of the world’s top mesothelioma research centers, the Asbestos Diseases Research institute in Sydney, Australia, say that restoring the expression of certain micro RNAs in the cells of mesothelioma patients may offer a new way to fight the disease. A microRNA is a small RNA molecule which is involved in the regulation of gene expression. According to a new report in the Annals of Oncology, the Australian scientists found reduced expression of the micro RNA-15 family (miR-15/16) in the cells of mice with mesothelioma. “When malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines were compared with the normal mesothelial cell line MeT-5A, the downregulation of miR-15/16 was 2- to 10-fold,” they report. This finding is consistent with previous cancer research…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Claims Another American Actor

    ByAlex Strauss

    Another American actor has died of malignant mesothelioma. Veteran character actor Ed Lauter, who worked with such prominent names as Clint Eastwood, George C. Scott, Burt Reynolds and Tom Cruise, died this week in Los Angeles. According to the Associated Press, one of Lauter’s most notable roles was that of a prison guard in the 1974 Burt Reynolds film “The Longest Yard”. He also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Family Plot”, “Born on the Fourth of July” with Tom Cruise, and most recently played a butler in the 2011 Oscar-winning film “The Artist”. Lauter’s television appearances included “The Office”, “ER”, “Murder She Wrote” and “The Rockford Files”. Although little is being said about the origin of Lauter’s mesothelioma, an aggressive…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Still Carries Heavy Mortality Burden in U.S.

    ByAlex Strauss

    Asbestos exposure cost Americans more than 427,000 years of potential life in the first decade of the new millennium. That figure comes from a study on mesothelioma and asbestosis – the two most deadly asbestos-related diseases – conducted by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Using National Center for Health Statistics mortality data, NIOSH researchers evaluated premature deaths and “loss of potentially productive years of life” attributable to either asbestosis or mesothelioma between 1999 and 2010. The data included only people 25 years or older with an underlying cause of death listed on their death certificate of either asbestosis or malignant mesothelioma. When the figures were calculated using the normal life expectancy for each asbestosis victim…

  • |

    Last Man Sentenced in Asbestos Dumping Scheme

    ByAlex Strauss

    The U.S. Justice Department has announced that a New Jersey man will spend 15 months in prison for his part in a scheme to illegally dump thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated construction debris – putting others at risk for mesothelioma. He was the last person to be sentenced in the conspiracy. Asbestos is the cause of mesothelioma, a difficult to treat and aggressive cancer.  At the height of its popularity from the 1940s to the early 1970s, asbestos was common in building products ranging from floor and ceiling tiles to joint compound, concrete and shingles. It is still present in tens of thousands of older homes and buildings today. In an effort to protect workers and the public from mesothelioma…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Case Shows Danger of Accidental Asbestos Exposure

    ByAlex Strauss

    A mesothelioma case in Birmingham, England is a dramatic illustration of the very real danger of hidden asbestos. The widow of a physician who died of mesothelioma last year at the age of 51 claims her husband was exposed to asbestos just walking to and from his medical classes. Monisha Coelho believes that exposed asbestos insulation in the underground hallways that connect the University of Birmingham to buildings on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital campus triggered Dr. Ian Pardoe’s mesothelioma. In an article in the Birmingham Mail, Coelho explained how her husband decided how and where the deadly exposure had occurred. “Ian thought long and hard about where he might have come into contact with asbestos,” Coelho told the paper. “He…